Trump Hosts Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado at White House

White House meeting with Machado

President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the White House on Thursday, according to White House officials and multiple news outlets.

Several outlets identified Machado as the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and confirmed the meeting.

CBS News reported that Machado, described as the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, will meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday, citing a White House official.

U.S. News & World Report (via Reuters) and NBC News also reported the planned meeting, with NBC saying a senior official expected the encounter.

U.S. involvement in Venezuela

The meeting comes amid highly charged developments in Venezuela after reported U.S. strikes and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.

Several outlets tie the White House visit to that upheaval and to shifts in U.S. policy on Caracas.

NBC reported the meeting "comes less than two weeks after U.S. strikes captured President Nicolás Maduro" and that Trump said the U.S. would "govern Venezuela until a 'proper transition'."

France24 and The Sun Malaysia note the Trump team has signaled it would be "running" Venezuela and has worked with Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodríguez, now installed as interim president.

Al Jazeera and CNN report Machado has been largely sidelined in immediate U.S. dealings even as she heads to Washington.

Machado Nobel coverage

Coverage has focused on Machado's recent Nobel Peace Prize and her public gestures surrounding it.

Multiple outlets reported she won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

CBS noted she said she would like to give or share her Nobel Prize with Donald Trump.

ABC and NBC reported she dedicated the prize to Trump and to the Venezuelan people.

CNN and The Sun Malaysia also reported that she offered the prize to Trump.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute emphasized the award cannot be transferred, revoked, or shared.

Machado's Vatican outreach

Machado's recent European and Vatican outreach is noted by religious and international outlets.

Rome Reports and ABC News say she met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.

Rome Reports adds that the Pope publicly urged respect for Venezuelans' will and an end to violence, and that Cardinal Pietro Parolin held diplomatic contacts around the crisis.

That Vatican angle appears in religious-focused reports, including Rome Reports and Catholic News Agency translation updates, but is less emphasized in purely U.S.-centric coverage, which focuses on the White House timing and U.S.-Venezuela policy.

Disputed coverage of Machado

Coverage diverges on Machado's domestic standing and on contested claims about prisoner releases and U.S. strategy.

Multiple outlets cite Trump saying Machado doesn't 'have the support within, or the respect within, the country' (CBS News) or that she lacked the 'respect' needed (RNZ).

Other outlets report she celebrated Maduro’s capture and has reemerged politically.

France24 notes Venezuela reported freeing 116 detainees but says rights groups dispute that number.

Several outlets (Al Jazeera, The Sun Malaysia, Apa.az) describe Machado as sidelined from practical U.S. negotiations that have at times engaged Delcy Rodríguez.

These variations mean sources collectively report the meeting but differ on how influential Machado is on the ground and how to read U.S. interaction with interim Venezuelan authorities, an ambiguity the reporting does not fully resolve.